Donors pledge $1 bln for maternal and child health fund

by
Reuters

Tuesday, 6 November 2018 14:51 GMT

A severely acute malnourished and internally displaced Congolese child holds on to her mother as she waits to receive medical attention at the Tshiamala general referral hospital of Mwene Ditu in Kasai Oriental Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, March 15, 2018. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

Money will help replenish the Global Financing Facility - a fund set up in 2015 to help poor countries change the way they finance health

(Corrects Norway pledge to $360 million in paragraph 5)

Nov 6 (Reuters) - Governments of 10 countries joined philanthropists and the European Commission on Tuesday to pledge $1 billion to a World Bank-backed fund for improving health and nutrition among millions of women and children in poor countries.

The money will help replenish the Global Financing Facility (GFF) - a fund set up in 2015 to help poor countries change the way they finance health by encouraging long-term investment in life-saving maternal and newborn health policies.

The GFF's focus is on high-impact measures like newborn and childhood nutrition, access to contraception and key maternity services.

Its director, Mariam Claeson, said the new funds would help it bring about "transformative change" in global health.

Tuesday's pledges included $360 million from Norway, $65 million from Britain and $58 million from Germany. They were "an important milestone" towards raising $2 billion for the GFF to be able to expand to 50 countries from the currrent 27, the fund said in a statement.

It said it was expecting additional pledges from new and existing investors who may make multi-year commitments.

"Healthy women, children and adolescents contribute to a virtuous cycle," said Melinda Gates, co-chair of the philanthropic Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which committed $200 million to the GFF replenishment.

"With health comes the ability to go to school and learn, which helps people prosper as adults, who are then able to raise empowered children who continue the cycle." (Reporting by Kate Kelland; editing by Andrew Roche)